The "alco-swap" has begun

As the Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia's (DSICA) Alco Tax Rip Off website claims Australians have spent an additional $145 million tax on pre-mixed drinks due to the federal government's recent tax increase, they've also noticed a major "alco-swap" occurring. The council said while sales of pre-mixed spirits are down, sales of straight spirits are up.

DSICA's Stephen Riden told ABC Radio "between April and June there was a 30 per cent decrease in the volume of alcohol sold in pre-mixed drinks but unfortunately a 46 per cent increase in the equivalent measure for bottled spirits." Family First's Victorian Senator Steve Fielding has been quoted in the Herald Sun saying "We have turned a drinking problem into a tax problem."

The federal government says the DSICA figures do not allow for normal seasonality in alcohol purchasing and show "the industry is prepared to selectively use data to protect their profits at the expense of young Australians."

Source: ABC Transcript, Herald Sun & The Shout.

Alco Tax Rip-off

The Distilled Spirits Industry Council of Australia, a spirit industry lobby group, have launched a new website called Alco Tax Rip Off to show how much tax is being collected by the recent increases in pre-mixed drink tax and protest the "unfair 70% tax increase" on pre-mixed drinks. It follows on from growing criticism of the tax, and the website highlights dissenting media articles, a current estimate of tax raised and links to supporting statistics.

Sources: Alco Tax Rip Off, News.com.au & ABC

Industry: Risky teen drinking is down

The number of heavy drinkers aged between 14 and 19 has been lowering over the past few years according to research cited by industry analysts. Industry analysis of the official figures shows teenage girls and boys who are drinking at risky levels (five or more drinks a day or 29 or more drinks a week for girls and seven or more drinks a day or 43 or more drinks a week for boys) has steadily declined over the past six years.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Industry: Tax increase misguided

The ABC is reporting the recent tax increase for ready-to-drink spirit drinks is being heralded as "misguided" by the Distilled Spirits Industry Council. The Council says the move will only encourage teenagers to binge on other types of alcohol.

The ABC Internet comments have received quite a bit of support for the Industry's viewpoint, including Pog who stated; "This will not change a bloody thing and will affect the people who actually like a breezer or Bundy and Coke premix the most." And Kamo came out in support, "Pog's right, this will just encourage kids to scull passion pop or shot cheap bottles of bourbon rather than learn to drink a mix drink or beer at a reasonable pace."

Source: ABC

Industry: Drinking guidelines are flawed

Access Economics has today released a report, financed by the Distilled Spirits Industry Council, critical of lower alcohol intake guidelines released by the National Health and Medical Research Council. The draft guidelines released last October reduced the four drinks a day limit for men to two drinks a day to reduce associated risks with alcohol consumption. There was no change to the existing two standard drinks a day maximum for women, although pregnant and breast-feeding women are now recommended to cut all alcohol intake.

The Access Economics report has condemned the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines as "both flawed and alarmist", relying on data collected in developing countries and ignoring the proven health benefits of moderate alcohol use.

The draft guidelines were partly based on a twelve nation survey of medical emergency room admissions in countries such as Mozambique, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Belarus, South Africa, China and India - which Access Economics claims have significantly higher risks than Australia. The report highlights Australia's serving restrictions, tough drink driving laws, random breath testing and other regulatory controls, policy and infrastructure measures as being superior to the developing countries highlighted.

The report's author, Lynne Pezzullo, said "the proposed new draft guidelines imply the majority of Australian males are at risk due to their current drinking habits."

Professor Robin Room, of Melbourne University's school of population health and a member of the expert committee which assisted in the draft guidelines, said the Access Economics report was flawed. She said the purpose of the guidelines was to set out the risks involved in drinking, and said the two drinks a day guideline was not yet settled.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald 1, 2 & The Australian